As Claire Woodhouse uploaded her cute Disneyland pictures to Facebook, she noticed an odd flash in her little girl’s eye, but wrote it off as the annoying red-eye effect.

But a friend who spotted the photo online realised the strange glint could be a danger sign and warned the mum to take Amie for an urgent check-up.

Only then did doctors discover the five-year-old had been suffering from the serious ­condition amblyopia since she was a baby and was virtually blind in one eye.

Claire said: “Amie never once mentioned she couldn’t see properly, to her it was just normal that she was only using one eye. She didn’t bump into things, and did everything other little girls did.”

But the condition was discovered in time and after three years of treatment and surgery Amie’s sight has now been saved.

The family’s ordeal began three years ago when Claire posted photos from the holiday to Disneyland Paris online – including one of Amie in a pair of Minnie Mouse glasses.

She said: “One of my sister’s friends called me and said she was worried about the glint in her eye.

“I just put it down to the light or the flash from the camera. But she said she’d read something about it and that it could be a sign there was a tumour or some other problem with her eyes.”

Carer Claire and her partner Anthony Morl, 31, took their daughter to their GP and were immediately referred to the Sunderland Eye Infirmary. She said: “Amie spent the day having all sorts of tests and we were told she had amblyopia – basically when she was born her brain had switched off one of her eyes, so she was seeing only out of one.”

First Amie had to wear a patch over her good right eye for 12 hours a day to make her “lazy” left eye start working harder.

Claire, from Newcastle, said: “It made her virtually blind. She was wearing a patch and also thick glasses to help her see. Luckily we caught it at an early age, but while we’ve been told her sight is good compared to how it used to be, she’ll still need glasses for ever.”

Amie, now eight, has also had surgery to correct a squint caused by the amblyopia, or “lazy eye”.

Claire, 29, said: “We’ve now been told her treatment is over, but she still has to go in every six months for a check-up.

“We’re just really pleased that she’s still got her sight. It’s been a difficult time for her.”

Claire added: “She has been so brave through all of this, she’s been brilliant. We can’t thank our friend enough for spotting the glint. We honestly didn’t suspect a thing.”

A spokesman for Sunderland Eye Infirmary said: “Early ­detection offers the best chances for a cure. We wish Amie and her family all the very best.”